The Wrecking Ball: PF2e Build #6

if you want to explore playing a two-handed weapon  using Powerhouse of a character in Pathfinder 2E   or if you're just interested in finding out  more about the class that everyone claims is   the most overpowered class in the game then you're  going to want to watch this video Welcome to D4 [Music]   hey everybody so here at D4 each week we take  a deep dive into one sometimes two specific   character builds for our favorite ttrpgs we crunch  numbers about them we theorycraft about them not   so that I can tell you the right way or the best  way to play a certain character but to explore   one potential way to build a character that you  are thinking about bringing to your game so if   you enjoy creating characters for role-playing  games almost as much as you enjoy playing the   actual game itself or if you're just interested  in getting ideas tips tricks for a character that   you're thinking about playing then welcome home  this is where you belong I'm so glad you're here   so thanks for being here my name is Colby really  quick if you'd be interested in getting a written   step-by-step cheat sheet to help you recreate this  character yourself without having to go back and   re-watch the video or take notes or if you're just  looking for a way to lend some additional support   to me to the channel I would really appreciate it  if you would consider joining as a member there's   a little button down there for two dollars a month  you get access to the library of write-ups that I   make for each and every one of these builds and  it's just a really nice way to support me so   huge shout out and thank you to all of my channel  members you guys are fantastic and everybody else   you're also fantastic just watching and liking and  subscribing and ringing the bell are great ways   to support the channel and they do a lot for me  they truly do so thank you too so as many of you   know I've often complained on my Channel about the  way that DND 5e tends to make dual wielding to too   up in fighting pretty lackluster when compared  to other weapon dealing character Concepts and   fighting styles despite my many attempts to do  dual wielding as effectively as I can like this   now this mechanical Gap is largely due to the  great weapon master and Sharpshooter Feats in d   d right something that admittedly it looks like  Wizards of the Coast is taking steps to correct   in the next version of DnD that will be out next  year by contrast it feels to me like at least at   first glance two up in fighting tends to be the  more optimal way to build weapon damage dealers   in Pathfinder 2E I'm not complaining about this  mind you I love two weapon using characters but   thanks to the very penalizing multi-attack  penalty in Pathfinder and the fact that you   can reduce that penalty by using agile weapons  which are always one-handed at least as far as I   know add to that all of the great ways to buff to  weapon fighting by using class Feats like double   slice or twin takedown to further reduce that  multi-attack penalty and two weapon fighting kind   of feels like the no-brainer way to go for high  consistent damage with lots of attacks per turn   in Pathfinder that said I think I found a pretty  strong exception to this apparent Rule and I'm   sure there are several I mean heck it might not  even be a rule but maybe the easiest one is found   by building what is often argued I'm learning to  be the most overpowered class in all of Pathfinder   the fighter yep that vanilla of all vanilla  classes the generic I'm good with weapons person   if you spend much time perusing the reddits and  the tubes and the general Zeitgeist of Pathfinder   2E you learn pretty quickly that Fighters are  considered to be a little broken by most people   who know the game why is that simple the number  two no not that number two thanks to better weapon   training Fighters get a plus two to hit more than  any other class really just a plus two to hit   that's what all the fuss is about sure they might  have things that help them become even better and   stronger but the plus two seems to be the most  damning feature and to be fair makes sense in   a system with math as tight as Pathfinders where  every plus one matters well plus two matters twice   as much that's why you often hear and read things  like the best rogue in Pathfinder is a fighter   with a rogue archetype or the Best Barbarian  is a fighter with a barbarian archetype Etc   so yeah I figured that on a channel dedicated to  building powerful fun characters I needed to put   that theory to the test to actually crunch numbers  to see if the math validates all the complaining   and I think that building them around a big heavy  two-handed weapon might be the best way to stretch   that damage as far as we can I could be wrong  but whether I'm right or wrong it's definitely   a super fun character concept to build around a  hulking brutish bull in a china shop character   who basically is here to do one thing Smash and  so I proudly present Pathfinder episode number six   The Brute the mountain the fighterian the Giant  Killer the sledgehammer Attack on Titans how   about just the wrecking ball huge thanks to my  good friend Randall Hampton for the Fantastic   artwork that he came up with for this character  concept he does this every week he's an amazing   artist you guys know this if you'd be interested  in following him to see the other art that he   creates or to potentially reach out and try  and commission him to create some art for your   character or your party I will put links in the  video description as always on how to do so now   before the build you guys please don't skip the  sponsor today they're one of my very favorites   and I am convinced that you will love them as much  as I do so if you just give me two minutes here   sponsor this week is a company called tabletop  Candle company and they make the most delicious   smelling candles in the world all inspired by your  favorite role-playing class archetypes now I am a   bit of a sensory junkie I'm a bit of a hedonist a  bohemian I'm a foodie I love beautiful art I love   music and the sound of babbling Brooks and yes  I love wonderful smelling things and tabletop   Candle company makes a lot of wonderful smelling  things plus they make lots of wonderful smelling   things that remind me of my favorite games each  candle that they make is scented differently   themed around classes and here are my very  favorites first up the Rogue this cute little guy   hmm Bergamot Cedarwood and musk smells like  leather and being enveloped in the warm dark   the cleric slightly larger size candle here oh  boy that one's getting low I need to restock that   it's peonies lavender and Sandalwood clean fresh  righteousness the monk of course and yes their   biggest candle sizes come with these like Wax dice  embedded inside which is not only awesome but you   can also buy these separately and use like a wax  melter or play with them for that matter if you   want your dice to smell delicious oh Sage Orange  Blossom and Amber I can feel my chakras aligning   as I sniff it but perhaps my favorite of all may  be tied with the monk is the Druid honeysuckle   Jasmine and violet it smells like a spring laid  in the feywild you guys seriously please check out   tabletop Candle Company and send them your money  this will absolutely add to the Ambiance of your   next game night or your next soak in the tub while  you dream about your next character I'm not gonna   lie once I figure out what the main class is going  to be for my build each week I will typically   burn the associated class candle while I write  the script for inspiration I'm telling you it   works anyway go here tabletop candlecompany.com to  check them out I will put that link in the video   description of course and if you use the code D4  at checkout you will save 15 off your entire order   so do that you will not regret your purchases I  promise alright huge thanks to tabletop Cattle   Company I seriously love you guys let's jump into  the build level one yes for our class we're going   fighter and that means we get to pick what our key  ability score is between dexterity and strength   and we are going to take strength for this build  bumping it to 12. as for skill training Fighters   get training in athletics or acrobatics we'll take  acrobatics actually but don't worry we're gonna   end up with both then we get three more skills as  well I think I want to take intimidation for this   build but aside from that go ahead and pick your  favorite skills as for other proficiencies that   we get here at level one we are trained in all  armor and unarmored defense and then yes the thing   that gets so many people upset we have expert  Proficiency in all simple and martial weapons   and unarmed attacks as opposed to just trained  proficiency like everybody else meaning that we   have a plus four to hit from our proficiency plus  our level plus our strength modifier that's going   to to put us at a plus nine to hit right at level  one when all said and done that's pretty amazing   we even get trained Proficiency in advanced  weapons which I think is unique for all classes   at level one correct me if I'm wrong anyway it's  pretty potent we'll get back to the rest of our   class features in a bit but for now let's discuss  our ancestry I think I want to go dwarf on this   character I know my want is to typically go human  for that free class fee at level one but I don't   think we need another level one fighter class  feat frankly and I really love the other things   that dwarves give us for this build not least of  which are some really cool thematic and conceptual   stuff first of all dwarves get dark vision which  seems both harder to come by in Pathfinder as well   as more powerful than in DND since hidden and  concealed enemies can be so much harder to hit   let alone Target in this system as a dwarf we will  bump our strength and our constitution by two each   putting us at 4 14 and 12 respectively as for our  sub race or Heritage I don't feel super strongly   about any of them mechanically at least but I  think I'd take Rock dwarf my concept for this   character is one who is kind of this immovable  object or irresistible Force they are the ones   knocking their enemies around all the time not  the ones being knocked around Rock dwarves get a   plus two circumstance bonus to their saves against  being shoved or tripped including against spells   and if we are ever forced to move 10 feet or  more we only move half the distance situationally   that's pretty powerful as being knocked prone  especially in this game can be incredibly   punishing something we'll be trying to take  advantage of ourselves here and yeah it's just   really on point for the concept I have for this  character too we get to choose An ancestry feat at   level 1 then and I'm gonna go with unburdened Iron  Dwarves only have a 20 feet move speed and that   can be pretty punishing what's more we're planning  on wearing heavy armor and in Pathfinder even if   you meet the strength requirements for heavy armor  you still have a -5 move speed penalty when you   equip it well not with this ancestry feat what's  more if we're forced to take a move speed penalty   for some other reason we get to deduct five feet  from that penalty again we're the ones moving   people around not being moved or slowed for that  matter for our character's background as usual   it doesn't matter too much what we take so long  as for us it lets us bump either our strength or   our constitution so we can bump either strength  or Constitution with the free bump that we then   would get right I think I'm going to take Marshall  disciple and choose training in the athletic skill   here which gives us the quick jump feat and that  can come in handy and we're going to kind of build   off of that actually a little bit it lets us high  jump or long jump with a single action instead of   the usual two and then for our final four ability  boosts we're gonna bump strength again of course   taking it now finally to an 18 Constitution then  to a 16 and then I want to go Charisma to 12 and   wisdom to 12. you might be wondering why we aren't  taking dexterity to get our reflex saves up among   other things it's because I would like to have  the option to demoralize on this character meaning   that we're going to want a decent Charisma and  once we get full plate armor since it has the   bulwark trait it will let us add three to our  reflex saves at least against damaging effects   so I figured we might as well bump dexterity in  favor of Charisma so we can be a little better at   demoralizing we are not live we are a boulder  for our starting equipment I want to buy some   splint mail for our armor and then for our weapon  I want to get a mall and that would take all 15 of   our starting gold so hopefully your friends are  bringing rations and knapsacks my original plan   was actually to use a scythe on this character  and then to call them the Grim Reaper and it was   going to be so cool but then I realized that I  didn't need a scythe like I originally thought   I did and since it's a d10 we'd get more damage  out of a D12 weapon instead plus I really like   both the critical specialization effect on hammers  which we'll get to later and the mod just ended up   fitting really well with the theme of this like  wrecking ball character that I was building who   just smashes everything so I'm all it is it does  a D12 of bludgeoning damage biggest weapon die in   the game and also has the shove trait which means  that we could use the weapon to shove or push a   creature with the athletic skill even if we don't  have a free hand right we can just use our weapon   to do so alright as a fighter at level one we get  some great great features first and probably most   importantly for us the attack of opportunity which  again most creatures in Pathfinder don't just get   automatically similar to DNA D this lets us use  our reaction to make a melee strike against an   enemy within our reach and yeah to be fair that  means we've got a good argument here for going   with a reach weapon instead of the mall so feel  free to do that if you want but anyway we get to   make this reaction attack whenever an enemy within  our reach not only makes a move action but also a   manipulate action or makes a ranged attack we are  going to be taking a great advantage of this we   also get the shield block General feat though we  won't be using it on this character it is a nice   way to use our reaction to absorb some damage if  we were using a shield and then we get our first   fighter class feed I want to take sudden charge  I've gone on the record many times during my games   with Ronald the rules lawyer you can watch us do  some actual play sessions of Pathfinder there with   some other more famous than me YouTubers anyway  I've said a lot I get super frustrated by having   to spend an action to move in Pathfinder I  know I know you get three whole actions how   is that worse than having an action a bonus  action and movement like you do in d d insert   rebuttal is about extra attack no multi-attack  penalty standing only takes half our move speed   etc etc anyway even with my own limited play time  in this system I've often found myself frustrated   by having to spend two move actions just to get  in range of an enemy if I'm prone I've got a   stand that's one action then a stride or a step  a second action leaving me with only one action   to attack right well for that reason I think the  first thing I want to do on this character yeah   is take sudden charge this lets us stride two  times and make a melee strike against an enemy   for just two actions and that makes me feel  a lot better about having these stubby little   dwarf legs with my 20-foot move speed at level  two we get another fighter feat and I think I'm   probably gonna take intimidating strike brutish  shove is more on point maybe thematically but   shoving enemies is really only situationally  useful not something that we're gonna build   around here and so not necessarily something I'd  want to be doing all of the time in Pathfinder   as a reminder shove is not the same thing as trip  right and d and d shove can push them or Make Them   Fall prone in Pathfinder those are two different  things brutishev does have the benefit of making   enemies flat-footed even if you fail on your shove  check but because brutishev has the Press feature   it would only make the enemy flat-footed on our  third attack on a turn since press means that   you can't use this ability if it's like the first  attack on your turn and how often are we going to   be making a third attack on our turn at a minus 10  to hit even if they're flat-footed we're probably   gonna miss right not that I won't be seeing what  the numbers look like when we do anyway but also   before long we're going to have another way to  make our enemies flat-footed on this build so   yeah not going to go that route some people might  say Power Attack I don't love Power Attack either   to be honest it takes two actions counts as two  attacks for our multi-attack penalty but then does   one extra die of weapon damage if you hit it's  situationally useful especially to overcome enemy   resistances I think but again before long we're  not going to have the action economy to use this   and what I want to do instead then I want to take  intimidating strike it's a pretty great ability   in my book anyway it's two actions to use but it  lets you make an attack and then if you hit you   automatically cause the target to be frightened  One automatically frightened two on a critical Hit   And as a fighter you're going to be creating a lot  as we talked about at length in the thief Rogue   video making an enemy frightened is super potent  in Pathfinder as it lowers everything the enemy   does including their attacks their saves and even  their Armor class but to be honest intimidating   strike is mostly going to be a backup option for  us before long as we'll get into in a bit we're   going to be trying to trip enemies on our turn  but that means that we're going to be making a   check against the enemy's reflex DC sometimes  and this seems to be kind of a recurring theme   in Pathfinder you're going to be running into  enemies with high reflex saves right making   tripping them a lot harder and in that case I want  to have something else to fall back on in our case   intimidating strike to then make them frightened  because there's a decent chance that if they have   a high reflex save they might not have a high will  save or vice versa I want to have intimidating   strike or a demoralize option to fall back on to  potentially make those High reflex save enemies   frightened instead and yeah intimidating strike is  really great in that even if they have a high will   DC and so demoralize isn't going to work against  him reliably with intimidating strike if you hit   you just make them afraid and that's just really  cool as for the skill feat that we get at level   2 I want to take Titan wrestler normally when we  try to disarm grapple shove or trip an enemy we   can only do those things against creatures that  are no more than one size larger than us similar   to in DND 5e with Titan wrestler we can do these  things against Creatures two sizes larger meaning   we can do them against huge creatures as a medium  creature right and we don't even need the Rune   night subclass or the enlarged reduced spell to do  so we also then at level 2 get our archetype feet   or at least I'm assuming that we do sense about 80  percent of Pathfinder tables seem to play with the   free archetype variant Rule and so I'm going to  take you guessed it the Barbarian dedication this   is absolutely perfect for us both mechanically  and thematically and it gave me a chance to really   dive into the Barbarian a bit and see what they're  all about so with this dedication we get training   in athletics or since we already were trained in  athletics a skill training of our choice pick your   favorite more importantly we get to rage rage  is awesome there are a lot of similarities to   rage in DND and Pathfinder so let's discuss first  up it's an action to rage but then it lasts for a   minute it doesn't end early if you don't take  an attack or do damage or anything only if you   fall unconscious in fact you can't even end your  rage early if you wanted to which I think is kind   of awesome when you rage you get temporary hit  points equal to your level plus your Constitution   modifier so that's five for us right now and you  deal two extra damage with melee weapons and and   unarmed attacks also that damage is halved if  we're going with weak sauce agile weapons get   out of here with your Nimble Precision we do have  a minus one to our AC while raging unfortunately   and we can't take an action with the concentrate  trait which generally means we can't cast spells   or do plenty of other things like search or  investigate or even actually demoralize for   now anyway as a reminder real quick concentrate  is not the same as concentration in DND that   concept doesn't really exist in Pathfinder  though there are sustained spells that sort   of imitate It Anyway once our rage ends we simply  can't rage again for one minute but there are no   other limits as to how often we can rage in a day  and I love that now with this dedication we also   have to choose a barbarian instinct which is the  Barbarian subclass though we don't actually yet   get any benefits from having that instinct for now  actually we only get like drawbacks each instinct   comes with an Associated anathema or like Creed  that stipulates what we just won't stand for I'm   going to do something that some of you will think  is a bad move and take the giant Instinct despite   my friend Sean AKA swing Ripper on Discord having  advised me to the contrary see Giants are ancient   Dwarven enemies and our character has a personal  history and grudge against them for whatever   reason I would definitely build this into your  backstory but in order to defeat Giants we have   decided to try and become like them we're going  to use our enemies tactics against them we are   a giant among dwarves we are a force of immense  power and destruction and yeah okay later on the   giant Instinct gets a little more damage from  Rage than any other instinct but seriously my   motivation here is at least as much inspired by  the concept as it is by mechanics I swear anyway   the giant anathema is failing to face a personal  challenge of strength so if someone challenges   you you better not back down because if you do  you will lose all of your instinct abilities for   a day of which we have none at the moment so I  guess it's just kind of flavor for now at level   3 fighters get bravery which is so cool it gives  us expert training in will saves which means that   we are expert in all saves now by the way plus  perception too that's amazing by level three and   also if you succeed on a will save against being  frightened it's an automatic critical success   and anytime we do get the frightened condition we  automatically reduce its value by one this means   we're almost immune to regular demoralized  attempts among other things and again it's   really great for us thematically as I do imagine  that we ourselves are going to be demoralized   and intimidating others once in a while on this  character again we're the ones that do this thing   it's not done to us right we get a general feat  at level three as well and I think I'm gonna take   Fleet it just increases our move speed by five  feet so at least we'll have a 25 feet move speed   now that feels a lot better than 20. for our skill  increase at this level I want to bump Athletics   to expert as it's super important for all the  tripping that we are about to start doing because   yes at level four we get another fighter feat  and I want to take knockdown knockdown costs two   actions and it lets us make a weapon attack and  then immediately follow it up with a trip attempt   and if we're using a two-handed weapon which we  are we can ignore Tripp's usual requirement that   we have a free hand to trip meaning we can have  our big weapon damage Die cake and eat it too by   tripping them without even having the trip trade  on the weapon hence why the Scythe ended up being   unnecessary and no against most enemies the deadly  d10 feature on the Scythe doesn't make up for the   smaller damage die on average against most enemies  anyways against super low AC enemies sure go ahead   and whip out a scythe so the reason this feat  knockdown is so great is because the trip action   is an attack action in Pathfinder and as such  typically suffers from any multi-attack penalty   we may have in effect with knockdown although both  attacks count toward our multi-attack penalty the   penalty doesn't kick in until after both have been  made meaning we are much more likely to actually   trip our opponent and knock them prone is knocking  an enemy prone so important that it's worth using   one of our actions for it every turn well if an  enemy is prone they are flat-footed meaning a   minus two to their Armor class they also have a  minus two to hit and can only crawl or stand for   move actions so so yeah this is a great debuff  to give an enemy that will benefit your entire   party but also yeah some of you would see where  else I'm going with this but we'll get into that   more when we talk tactics for our damage report  in a minute as for the skill feat that we get   this level I think I'd take powerful leap I'm  kind of going down like a leaping and climbing   rabbit hole with this character I see them as this  supreme athlete and Powerful leap is nice in that   it lets us jump five feet in a vertical leap  something you otherwise have to make like a 30   DC Athletics check to do I think and it increases  the distance we can jump horizontally by five feet   two situationally pretty handy for our Barbarian  archetype feat at level four I would take basic   Fury which gives us a first or second level  Barbarian class feed and for that I think I'm   going to take raging intimidation this gives  the demoralized action the rage trait meaning   we can now use it even though demoralize has the  concentrated trait and it also gives us free skill   feeds once we qualify for them intimidating glare  which the pre-qualification is just that we need   to be trained in intimidation so check their free  skill feed now we can just intimidate with a look   and we don't need to speak a creature's language  as well as the scare to death skill feat which   is super cool but it requires us to be level 15 so  we're not going to get to it on this character but   yeah with scared to death you can literally just  One-Shot an enemy by scaring them it's one of my   favorite things in all of Pathfinder all right  level five we get so many things ability boosts   first up we're gonna bump the same things strength  to 19 Constitution to 18 Charisma to 14 and wisdom   to 14. we get An ancestry feat and I for sure  am taking vengeful hatred here it's perfectly on   point for us you choose an ancient Dwarven enemy  and in our case we're taking you guessed it Giants   and thereafter get a circumstance bonus to damage  against the those creatures for us it will be plus   two damage at the moment but also if any creature  critically hits us then we get that bonus damage   against that creature that crit us for a minute  regardless of what type of creature they are and   that's just so cool it fits perfectly into this  lore of a grudge-holding dwarf right and for us   a raging grudge-holding Dwarven Sledgehammer it's  just the best for our skill increase at level 5 I   would take intimidation to expert for sure giving  us a nice bump to those demoralized checks that   were kind of building around or at least giving  ourselves an option to use and then there is the   Almighty Fighter weapon Mastery so yeah most  other Marshall classes finally get to catch up   to Fighters here by getting expert Proficiency  in their trained weapons right well Fighters at   the same level get bumped to master training so  they continue to stay ahead of everybody now you   will only get this bump with one weapon group so  it's not all weapons Choose Wisely I'm sticking   with hammers here we also happily get access  to the critical specialization effect of that   weapon group and it's the main reason aside from  thematic ones that I wanted to go with hammers as   a reminder each weapon group has an Associated  critical specialization effect and if you have   access to those critical specialization effects  and that's not always an automatic guarantee you   have to have a feature that actually grants you  that access right then depending on the weapon   when you get a critical hit you do something extra  with hammers you knock them prone and that felt   pretty Perfect Since even though we're going to  be doing our best to knock our enemies prone with   knockdown sometimes we're going to roll poorly  on that Athletics check or they're going to have   a really high reflex save so having a backup way  to potentially knock them prone is really great   and yeah it just works on any creature that  we get a critical hit on there's no save no   size restriction nothing so if you crit on a  gargantuan enemy prone with a plus two to hit   over everyone else like I've said Fighters do  tend to crit more often than others so this is   something I think that's going to show up for us  kind of a lot okay at level five it is time for   our first damage report let's talk about what  tactics look like for our little wrecking ball   on round one you're gonna be raging getting into  position most likely and making an attack right   but thereafter assuming you don't need to move  or anything on your turn of course the plan is   to use knockdown to attack them and try to trip  them we will then make an oft ill-advised third   attack at yeah a minus 10 penalty to hit but  to be fair if they're prone and as a fighter   our likelihood of hitting them even then is a lot  higher than most anyway if we succeed on tripping   them with knockdown or we get a critical hit on  either of our strikes then the enemy is prone and   guess what on their turn they are totally gonna  stand up I mean if they don't great they they   remain flat-footed and have a minus two on all of  their attacks but if and when they do yeah since   standing is a move action we get a third strike  this round with attack of opportunity and since   the attack is not made on our turn it doesn't  suffer from any multi-attack penalty and it is   glorious now there are assumptions that I'm making  here first of all yes I'm assuming the enemy is   flat-footed to us even though we might not always  have them flanked do your best to flank them or   otherwise get them flat-footed but fortunately  yes once they're prone they are flat-footed I   am also as always assuming we have magic items as  per the automatic bonus progression table from the   game mastery guide meaning that by this point we  would have an extra plus one to hit one more die   of damage on our weapon for two D12 per hit ouch  and yes even a plus one to our skill of choice we   of course would take Athletics for that and since  bonuses to Athletics checks don't stack here with   potency bonuses from our weapon if that weapon had  to trip trait on them like if we were to try and   use that weapon to trip right so again there was  no real reason to take a scythe over the higher   damage D12 Mall it doesn't give us any additional  benefit to our trip attacks assuming we've got   that plus one to a skill whether via the automatic  Mouse progression table or like a lifting belt   or whatever but then I'm going to assume that you  managed to knock your enemy prone on your turn 75   percent of the time it's an estimate it's going  to vary depending on the enemy's AC depending   on their reflex save but to save myself a lot of  effort and brain cramps I'm estimating 75 percent   and I do feel like that's pretty accurate but  assuming that the enemy is prone then yes we get   a third attack when the enemy stands up on their  turn meaning we'll be making three attacks that do   two D12 each of damage plus four for our strength  plus two for our rage for a total of six D 12 plus   18 and so against enemies with what is typically  considered to be a low AC at this level which the   game mastery guide says is a 19 here we would  on average do 59 damage per round on our turn   and against a high AC enemy which is supposedly  a 22 here it would be 48 DPR and yeah okay that's   better than any other build I've done to date  at this level except the reigning Champion Thief   now some of you might be crying foul because  I'm making assumptions that I shouldn't be   making perhaps but the truth is I'm really not  making any assumptions here that I don't make on   other builds that the enemy is flat-footed that a  very important situation for our damage actually   happened 75 percent of the time etc etc so if  I need to temper numbers for over assuming here   then I think I'd need to temper numbers across  the board for other builds right in the end I   think the Gap would gen generally remain the  same between the builds that I've done to date   at this level and to be fair the thief is only  winning out by a few points here let's see if we   can catch up at level six we get another fighter  feat and I want to take advantageous assault it's   an ability with the Press feature meaning again  that we can't do this on our first attack on our   turn but we wouldn't want to do this right off  anyways because it has us make an attack against   an enemy that is restrained grabbed or prone and  if we hit we get to do extra damage equal to two   since we're using our weapon with two hands plus  the number of weapon damage dice so four total   it's not a huge number and it will only work  against a compromised Target which means for   us if we're starting out with knockdown yeah this  is only applying on our third attack at a minus   10 to hit but you know if we're trying to knock  them prone anyways and we're planning on making   another attack with our third action once in  a while it's a decent little damage bump for   if and when we hit as for these skill feet that  we get at this level I'm just going to go ahead   and say pyf pick your favorite take something that  just really helps you fulfill the dream and vision   that you have for your character concept but as  for the Barbarian archetype feat at this level I'd   recommend the Instinct ability feat this finally  actually gives us some benefit to the Barbarian   Instinct that we chose every Barbarian Instinct  gets an instinct ability and yeah this archetype   feat just gives us access to that where regular  barbarians just kind of get it for free for Giants   it's called Titan Mauler we're already a Titan  wrestler might as well be a Titan Mauler while   we're at it does this mean we Maul Titans or we  Maul like a Titan maybe both regardless it tells   us that we can now use a weapon that's typically  made for larger creatures there's no special   list of like large weapons or anything for us to  consult here all regular weapons can be made for   larger creatures they normally just have twice the  cost and twice the bulk but otherwise our function   only the same so go ahead and get your hands  now on a large mall that was made for a large   creature when you use it your rage damage goes  from a plus two to a plus six sweet now it does   come with a big huge honking downside and it's  that when we are doing this we have the clumsy   one condition which we can't reduce or remove in  any way and this is why people say taking giant   is a bad idea clumsy one is going to mean that  we have a -1 penalty to everything that uses our   dexterity including skill checks reflex saves and  yeah Armor class even if we're wearing full plate   and that kind of sucks we've been talking about  having a plus two to hit over other characters   is a really big deal for Fighters well now we're  giving our enemies essentially a plus two to hit   us if you combine the minus one we're already  getting from rage right so yeah instead you   might have wanted to go Dragon Instinct for a plus  4 rage bonus instead of plus six or spirit for   a plus three but also the benefits of the ghost  touch property Rune which is a lot more effective   against incorporeal foes but I mean come on you  guys know me by now right caution we don't need   no stinking caution besides this just continues to  fit the concept we've got going here of a Raging   Bull in a china shop wrecking ball right I welcome  the Devil May care clumsiness as well as the extra   damage of course again feel free to go another  route if you want to be a little more prudent   I won't think less of you I promise hopefully  you won't think less of me for doing what I've   done exploring the limits of what's possible not  what's advisable all right at level seven we get   the Battlefield surveyor feature which bumps our  training and perception to master and gives us   an additional plus two bonus to initiative roles  when we're using perception for a total of a plus   four to our initiative is here very nice for the  general feet we get at this level I am tempted   to take incredible initiative to really take those  initiative roles to the next level but I think I'd   rather have toughness instead this just gives  us an additional hit point per character level   and lowers the DC of our recovery checks by  one considering our clumsy raging cells with   a minus two to our Armor class that's probably  the better BET right for our skill increase at   this level I think we need to take Athletics  to master for a higher likelihood of tripping   our enemies among other things and then finally  at level 7 we get weapon specialization which   just like for all Marshals increases our weapon  damage by two except wait since we have Master   proficiency it increases our damage by three  insult to injury at level eight we get another   fighter feat and I kind of like felling strike  here as a melee weapon user one big potential   weakness that we have is to Flying enemies sure  we can and should carry like some light hammers   with us or whatever to throw in that case but  our damage kind of falls through the floor in   that scenario yeah well with felling strike if we  hit a flying enemy and deal damage the enemy just falls to the ground this would be especially  awesome if they took falling damage but alas they   do not now felling strike takes two actions so  that's not great but it is a nice option to have   if you need it maybe you can get one more attack  on your turn if they fall at your feet or at least   let your other melee companions try to take them  out or grapple them etc for the skill feat at   this level there's actually something I do want to  recommend here and it's wall jump you have to be   level seven to take it and have Master proficiency  and Athletics but now that we have both of those   things it's just super cool this feat tells us  that if we're adjacent to a wall at the end of our   jump then we can jump again pushing Off the Wall  right like Prince of Persia style to try and reach   an otherwise unreachable enemy or grab a ledge Etc  I doubt we'd actually use this all that often but   when we did it'd be super awesome might as well  keep building on the quick jump and Powerful leap   Feats that we've already got speaking of we also  get a barbarian archetype feet here and I would   go with Advanced Fury which lets us take another  Barbarian feat equal to half our character level   so level four feets now right and I say we go  raging athlete it gives us a climb and swim speed   equal to our move speed while we're raging which  is pretty situationally fantastic and decreases   the DC of our jumps and increases the distance we  can jump we're kind of like a bouncy ball Wrecking   Ball now instead of just a regular wrecking ball  at level nine we get such a great Dwarven ancestry   feat mountain stoutness building on that immovable  object theme like toughness this feat increases   our hit point one per level and further decreases  the DC of our recovery checks but the best part   is if you have both this feet and toughness  the recovery check DC is essentially decreased   by four meaning you are almost never going to  die despite our poor decisions about the whole   -2 to AC thing I think for the skill increase we  get at level 9 I'd probably bump intimidation to   master I appreciate that with intimidating strike  you might not often be trying to demoralize your   enemies here but considering that demoralize is  only one action and can be done from range I like   having the ability to use it sometimes I mean one  potential tactic here is to demoralize with your   first action and then knock down with your second  two right that third attack isn't going to land   very often and particularly against enemies with a  high AC and or a high reflex save it could be the   difference between you Landing your strike and  or succeeding on your trip and that's going to   be more valuable than that second strike with your  third action right building around demoralizes by   no means necessary here but I like having options  speaking of options we also get a pretty fantastic   fighter feature here called combat flexibility  this basically lets us learn any fighter feat   of eighth level or lower once per day that we can  swap out daily to give ourselves some pretty nice   flexibility I think my default one would probably  be sudden leap I mean we've already got the best   bouncy wrecking ball ever might as well keep going  suddenly it lets us use two actions to jump and   make a melee strike and if we have felling strike  we can combine sudden leap with filling strike for   a three action activity to jump attack and knock  them to the ground which is situationally pretty   useful and it's super cinematic finally at level 9  Fighters get Juggernaut it raises our Proficiency   in fortitude saves to master and tells us that if  we succeed on a fortitude save it's an automatic   critical success instead so good at level 10 we  get more ability boosts we're gonna keep going   with what we've been doing all along taking  strength to 20 Constitution to 19 Charisma to   16 and wisdom to 16. and that's awesome but maybe  my favorite thing at level 10 is the fighter feat   I've been kind of salivating over this entire  time improved knockdown with this feat instead   of taking two actions to strike then trip we just  make a single strike it still takes two actions   we're still using knockdown but if the strike hits  it not only just automatically trips them but it   automatically applies the critical success of a  trip now a critical success on a trip means that   the enemy both Falls prone and takes bludgeoning  damage and with this feat if you're using a   two-handed weapon they take the weapons damage  die instead of the usual 1d6 it's it's not a   huge bump but it does mean an extra D12 of damage  when we hit with that strike on improved knockdown   so that's basically a 3D 12 attack now now sure  you still have to take two actions to do this   like I've said but automatically succeeding on the  trip if we simply land our attack is just going to   make knocking them prone that much more reliable  especially against High reflex save enemies and I   love it for our skill feed here I think I'd take  Battle Cry since we've got Master Proficiency in   intimidation which is a prerequisite here it lets  us demoralize an enemy as a free action whenever   we roll initiative a free frightened condition  on an enemy of our choice to start off combat   is pretty wonderful for our Barbarian archetype  feat I think I just take Advanced Fury again and   this time take fast movement it gives us another  10 feet of move speed while outraging and now 35   feet of move speed feels way better than 25 we  are now a very Speedy Boulder rolling down the   mountain gravity works for our final damage report  then since last check we've increased our strength   modifier by one added some extra damage when  we hit a prone enemy and extra damage to our   rage thanks to Titan Mauler at the cost of being a  little more clumsy we got another D12 on our first   strike on our turn thanks to improved knockdown  we did pick up another plus one to hit from the   automatic bonus progression chart that simulates  magic item increases right as well as a little   extra damage from weapon specialization plus three  and then a whole slew of great utility defensive   and even debuffing capabilities we are absolutely  living our best wrecking ball lives at the moment   one thing to note instead of just assuming a 75  chance of knocking them down now I can be a little   more precise thanks to improved knockdown where  if we hit they're just automatically tripped and   I know our percent chance of hitting based on our  plus to hit and the enemy AC right so I can just   apply that percentage chance to hit to the damage  of what our opportunity attack would do to get a   little more accurate representation of our damage  makes sense anyway against enemies with a 10 Armor   class here we would on average do 98 damage per  round that's a 27 AC by the way and against a high   enemy AC which we're told would be a 30 at this  level we would do 71 DPR on average and compared   to other builds that I've done to date that's  better than all of them except the thief Rogue   ah which is about you know seven or eight  percent better is all holy cow what does   that mean is the thief op is the fighter not as  overpowered as everyone seems to think okay deep   breaths everybody let's discuss it in the final  thoughts so yeah through 10 levels this fighter   is out damaging everyone except the thief but  here's the thing about these numbers I always   calculate them under best case scenario situations  and sometimes make assumptions that aren't always   going to pan out in the game right the thing that  really put the thief Head and Shoulders Above the   Rest for those that don't remember was that I  was assuming that 75 percent of the time you   would get an attack with your reaction thanks to  the combination of both the Rangers disrupt prey   which is very similar to attack of opportunity  and even better I think the rogue's opportune   backstab which gives a reaction attack when a  nearby Ally hits an enemy within your reach with   a melee attack seems to me that that would happen  about 75 percent of the time but obviously that's   going to vary from table to table and encounter to  encounter if you only have one other melee Outlet   in your party and especially if your other melee  allies aren't necessarily trying to focus fire the   bad guys and play Super tactically that number is  going to be lower than 75 percent but by the same   token our wrecking ball is sometimes going to run  into enemies with great reflex saves or at least   up until we got to level 10 right or we're just  gonna flat out roll poorly on our trip attempts   so that 75 percent that I was assuming where our  enemy would be tripped and then standing up to   give us a reaction attack on this build is also  going to vary from encounter to encounter maybe   the one thing that we should highlight about the  thief though is this another assumption I always   make is that the enemy is flat-footed right this  is because there are so many ways to get your   enemy flat-footed in Pathfinder and at least one  of them flanking is something that you generally   are going to have some really decent control over  though of course I understand that there will be   times when flanking might be impossible or nearly  so now for most builds a flat-footed enemy is just   basically going to increase your hit Chance by two  in the thief's case however and actually the mega   says as well but to a lesser extent not getting a  flat-footed enemy means much much more for Rogues   a huge part of their damage is coming from sneak  attack and sneak attack only works if the enemy   is flat-footed it's 2d6 per strike at level 5  and it was 4 D6 at level 10 thanks to precise   debilitations no I am not going to start trying  to make assumptions on a percentage likelihood   that an enemy is flat-footed or whatever it's  just more time than I'm interested in spending   and in the end all of these numbers are estimates  based on enemy AC saving throws what's going on in   the battlefield etc etc right they're done in a  lab they're never intended to perfectly simulate   actual combat encounters because they never could  but sure if we lowered the benefit all of these   builds received from flat-footed enemies it would  hurt the thief a lot more than others potentially   bringing them in line with our fighter today  maybe even dropping them below depending on   what the likelihood was that we estimated that  the enemy would be flat-footed to be honest then   I think that what the exercise today has shown me  isn't so much that people are necessarily wrong   about the fighter it's more that I think people  severely underestimate the thief rogue's potential   nevertheless I do think that the extra plus two to  hit that Fighters get over pretty much every other   class is incredibly strong but I'm also just not  that convinced that it's as op as a lot of people   seem to think I'm positive at the very least  that the best rogue is not a fighter with a rogue   archetype mostly of course because there's more to  the game than just damage come on I mean I've been   trying to tell you guys that for like almost three  years now but even if we were just talking about   damage the lower sneak attack scaling and slower  feet and skill progression that we would get by   going fighter plus Rogue archetype versus straight  Rogue is sizable maybe the plus two to hit from   fighter makes up for that Gap but I think that  if nothing else the numbers are a lot closer than   most people think in the end I absolutely love  the bouncing wrecking ball that we ended up with   today I love not only the damage that they bring  which is immense but the ways that they're helping   out their allies by making their enemy prone  almost every turn and or frightening them when   they can't sometimes both they are a terrifying  menacing Sledgehammer of Destruction and I for one   am here for it so anyway that's the build for the  week I hope you guys enjoyed it I really had a lot   of fun kind of trying to crack this code and solve  this puzzle today I hope you know that I love you   guys you are so fantastic thank you for all that  you do for me for the channel I hope you have a   really great day and a fantastic week and if you  don't I hope you'll hang in there and I also hope   that you are good and kind and did I see you again  really soon but until then take care bye [Music]   I came in like a wrecking ball I don't even know that song I know that it exists  but my vibe tends to be usually a lot more like   because when you worry your face will frown and  that will bring everybody down so don't worry Don't Worry Be Happy my teleprompter  has stopped working that's not good so no that's still not right I always  got to pull out the Royals shirt   it's baseball season spring is in the air I was  born in Kansas City but I'm not actually a huge   baseball fan I don't follow the sport all that  much I've been to a spring training game I went   to some Royals games when I was like a baby too  young to remember I watch them when they're in   the playoffs one day I'm gonna get back to Casey  and actually go to like a real game that said hey yay you are struggling today and yeah  okay well um well well don't even say that [Music]   automatically applies the critical success of  a trip and I didn't include that in my numbers hold please and we're back I hate it when I have  to do that so I was just taking everything down   for um my thumbnail I've just been doing the  thumbnail like this without the pictures in the   background and notice that uh that Gandalf in the  ball rug just fell halfway through the video or so   you guys did you guys notice the  gray wizard has fallen into the   hearts of Kaza Doom at least you took  the ball rug with him thigh you fools

Channel: d4: D&D Deep Dive

Views: 36,342

Keywords: Pathfinder, 2e, optimized, min max, two weapon fighting, twf, dual wielding, fighter, overpowered, OP, two handed weapon, most damage, training, expert, specialization, barbarian, rage, maul, dpr, dps, guide, how to, tips, tricks, character, build, creation

Id: pikcK6q3zZE

Length: 54min 6sec (3246 seconds)

Published: Tue May 16 2023